Received: from ldeneen.d.umn.edu (ldeneen.d.umn.edu [131.212.60.137]) by mail.d.umn.edu (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g8BEBu020324 for ; Wed, 11 Sep 2002 09:11:56 -0500 (CDT) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 09:12:06 -0500 From: Linda Deneen Sender: ldeneen@d.umn.edu To: wwwteam@d.umn.edu Subject: Survey Comments (fwd) (fwd) Message-ID: <313070.1031735526@ldeneen.d.umn.edu> X-Mailer: Mulberry/2.1.2 (Mac OS X) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Web Team, At Sally's request, I am forwarding the web survey results to you so that you can see the comments regarding our search engine. The original questions can be found at: < http://www.d.umn.edu/survey/ > These are the results from the comment boxes in the survey. Linda ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Date: Monday, July 15, 2002 9:16 AM -0500 From: Andrew Manteuffel To: Campus Web Committee Subject: Survey Comments ______________________________________________________________________ Visiting From: ______________________________________________________________________ High School High School School school D-C High School cedar hill high school Labs fromMWAH building UMD Chemisty lab Chemistry Lab classroom work-fleet/grou Work Work related travel work work on cable Parents House friends' house via cable/DSL Home, Campus Park at mother's or brother's house PUBLIC PLACE North Dakota skypoint.com DECC Massachusetts St. Paul Various places while on vacation surfing to get information for prospective students. The website is very poor. nothing mmmm, muffins ______________________________________________________________________ I Start Here: ______________________________________________________________________ students page Current Students Current Students Either UMD homepage or the library page directly to WebMail email email page email page www.d.umn.edu/email Email email IMP e-mail page email Library home page Library Library HR HR teachers pages register page www.umdstores.com ATHLETICS http://www.umdced.com Front Page for DMS my home page of the umd site http://www.d.umn.edu/~shar0213/misc/links.htm; my own links page http://www.d.umn.edu/~mohs0025 ~troufs mmmmmm, french toast ______________________________________________________________________ I am Seeking Information on: ______________________________________________________________________ email E-mail e-mail email email email e-mail Email email email/grades ITSS, email ITSS services ITSS related info software or info from ITSS Web development, Technology Training and Classroom Technology. People>Address/Phone # lookup people search, grade calculations jAKE NETTLETON class schedule Class section status reports Section status class websites statesman link to weather Weather athletics ECE Department student government Internal pages Computer Corner Prices Registrar Professional Associations mmm, burgers ______________________________________________________________________ I Rated it that way because: ______________________________________________________________________ ? I don't like the "mouse over" feature; it's detracting. Sometimes it's hard to find individuals and department information. ? The pop up menu that appears from a roll over should appear to the right of the section that you are rolling over, not two boxes away to the left. Smaller picture with more easy to read information. ? The front page and Library pages look really nice, but deeper pages are clunky. Sometimes difficult to find information (HTTP statistics, maps to classrooms, etc.). THE ITSS WEBSITE REALLY SUCKS. I've never found what I'm looking for through it. Poorly organized. ? Not fond of the color scheme but for my use it seems pretty functional and has a nice mix of glitz with content. ? Too dark; not obvious what the links are; ? really nice design; it appeals to new students that think they might come to umd, but gets kindof bland for us; but that's okay; were just trying to get more students anyway ? the horn thing on the home page is pretty tacky ? Too colored. More moderns sights have slick elegant lines. ? I like it a lot more since it was re done. It is much easier to get around and find what i am looking for. ? need bigger font sizes ? slow to load esp. over dial-up ? I think a direct link for student to check their email should be put into place. ? You should link to UMDStudents.com ? It's a boring site with very little information that I didn't already know. ? Alot of good content but not organized very eficiently (Hard to find). Department listings is nice. ? the organizational tree seems difficult to understand. ? links often out of date, main page too wide, hard to determine how information is categorized, too few links on main page, should be able to click on mouse over menu on main page, background should be white ? Why is news about UMD so erratic and old? Also, I never can tell what subject is under what heading ? Hard to find information until you know the system. Hard to tell others where to look. Many email messages via web access not readable if sent outside the system (e.g., hotmail, yahoo) ? I find it difficult to find information I need. ? too hard to find things. front page not a very good lead-in to rest of site ? It is too hard to find what you are looking for. There are too many place that are not linked, you have to get to them by clicking your way through the mazes of information. ? The search engine is terrible. Please use a better search engine or integrate Google into the site. It takes forever to search for something other than a student or faculty member. ? the search engine is terrible. THe email rarely works well. the system is always down. ? I have found the "search" option to be less than helpful on a number of ocassions. I have better luck using www.google.com to find the link to the part of the UMD page that I am looking for. ? Get a better search! Try google like the UMN TC! ? They always make it unavailable when they are working on it. This makes it hard to get online somtimes. ? The web site is frequently not working correctly, and information is often very difficult to find. ? it is never working right! ? I haven't noticed any problems ? GREAT! ? job well done! ? needs more detail on how to get to various departments ? I think the umd website is great. It could even have more information about umd and duluth. ? It's very easy to use. ? Its a very bad website. There isnt enough information on anything at all. This site can be given 0 points out of 10. ? Its ok. No basis of comparison with other academic web sites, however. ? It is easy to find things. ? Difficult to find anything. Usually skip directly to the alphabetical list of departments. ? how much does it cost ? Individual Departments NEED to contain more info and be UPDATED more often! ? Need a quicker way to get to the computer corner - I go to search - dept. - computer corner - stores - stores website ? There needs to be a link on the home page to go directly to class registration. ? I have found the system, and this survey easy to use thus far ? mmm, i love pancakes. never change your menus. PLEASE! please send me the mushroom cheese burger for a sample of your food at kirbys cafe. ______________________________________________________________________ I want to see more of this: ______________________________________________________________________ E Mail easy email access easier access to email Event Listings Link to umdstudents.com link to UMDStudents.com link to UMDstudents.com umdstudents.com Rankings : Engr ranks as 34 among all the Univ who doesnt offer PHD. EVENTS EVENTS EVENTS.... up to date information about what is going on... maybe get the statesmen involved on the homepage... let them update an events column Steaming news, about campus activities, perhaps. sports information academic focus, not sports courses listed, and description of all classes and majors Post status of campus closing decisions during winter better descriptions of majors and minors Useful information useful information, such as "detailed" course descriptions. More information of everything like the site of twin cities campus More Duluth area links some links to TC campus site--policies, etc.. link UM site Keep it simple! Look at UMD's future. 360 views are a MUST; they will bring tons of new students... goto ipix.com or other places standardized formats for branch pages, ie the various colleges Use images sparingly. Use meaningful images whenever you do use them. Don't just decorate the page with "art for art's sake" images. Images are powerful communicators when they show items of interest to users, but will backfire when they seem frivolous or irrelevant or get in the way of performing tasks. Images should be used when they supplement the task, when they add to the enjoyment without getting in the way. Example: The photo on the UMD page gets in the way of the information on a 640 x 480 display. Scrolling is required for the bottom half of the page. A superfical left parentasis and arrow are meaningless to content and tasks at hand. N/A none mmmm, waffles ______________________________________________________________________ How hard or easy to find information: ______________________________________________________________________ ? Need to bold the search option. ? It depends what you're looking for. Sometimes the search function works very well, other times it never returns the results I need. Library site is well-organized, for the most part. Current Students site is good. Again, ITSS really needs to reorganize their site... maybe have an 'advanced user' section where they go straight into the grit of UMD's network (access logs, statistics, POP3 server addresses, etc...) ? search engine returns relevant results (most of the time) and it works nice with people/faculty finding ? I've already mentioned that I find the search option to be week; www.google.com is more helpful in finding the right link to the part of the UMD page I need. ? The search engine is bad. But I know the links by heart :) ? the search menu should be updated ? the search engine results are very confusing ? Once again, google! http://services.google.com/googleuniv/login ? The search engine on this website is absolutely worthless. ? Searching for names is hard when you don't know the exact spelling of a person's name. The search engine should give you options that are close also. ? My biggest problem with finding information is that I often don't know where to look or what to call it in a search. Also, there is A LOT on the UMD site that many of us don't have any idea is out there, so I think sometimes we're duplicating efforts needlessly at times. ? A lot of content, but hard to find. ? links are categorized poorly, hard to know where I'm going when I click "teaching and learning" or "campus life" search feature seldom useful; ? again, organizational tree is often cumbersome. ? things seem very spread out, lots of clicking to get places: homepage doesn't provide a good starting point... lots of people are guessing what link is going to do what ? The terms used to direct us to pages within the site lack common definitions. I don't easily find what I'm looking for because of non-intuitive lingo used. ? Some of the links area bit ambigous, so maybe consider a mouseover event, or such, that would give a brief description of the link. ? I don't know if there is an easier way..but seems like so many broad categories to choose from that result in more broad categories to choose from. shrug. ? I believe it needs reorganization. ? links to student organizations, and their websites, is almost impossible to get to. There are way too many links to get to the page. The graphics on the student organizations is also confusing. ? no easy way to find what is being servered in the D.C. on a particular day ? I can't an online application for 2003 but am able to find a 2003 paper ? should have course descriptions linked with class scedule and course guide so one could reference between the three when registering ? thanks for changing the link to the Registrar ? more links to usefull sites like ITSS ? Depends on what is being searched for. Never did find the schedule for finals for this semester. Seems to me as if it should be on the web somewhere!! ? Often, you have to click down many levels to find basic information. Where are departments? ? When searching departments, I'd rather go directly to their homepage vs having to click another link ? However, links to making a gift need to be improved, streamlined. ? I'd like quicker links to faculty web pages. ? how much does it cost ? It's usually pretty easy. When it's not, it's usually the fault of the specific department's website rather than the main page or its subsidiary links. (Example: the other day, I was trying to look up the name of the Kirby Cafe and couldn't find it on the KSC site. I finally found it on the Food Services site.) ? I find it hard to find the registrar, needed for a variety of information including the section status reports. Need better links here. ? depends on what your looking for, For example, if your looking for a professors webpage or class page and you don't remember it or have with you it is somewhat hard to find. Take the school of business's new web pages not all of the professors have their links attached to their bios on the staff web page where the link should be. some of them have their links but not all that have them. ? most things are fairly easy to find, but once in a while you look for something new and have no idea where to look. ? Because the information isnt there ? I find it easy to find info, but I may not be representative, as I use the site so often. ? I've learned but I still search. I just found where the student handbook is located and all the information in it. ? Deep linking might help. ? ideally, should be able to find what you are looking for within 3 or so clicks of the mouse ? See above comment. ? i love burgers. please send me one. Please:( ______________________________________________________________________ Suggestions: ______________________________________________________________________ ? Keep all areas more updated ? Update things other than the home page more often ? easiest university website to maneuver around that I have seen. Good job. ? UMD Student Webpage links, have departments update their webpages more often with new pictures, stories, graphics, and audio and visual items. ? Put a link to www.umdstudents.com on it! ? Have a link to UMDStudents.com on the main page. Have more than one website of the month, and include student webpages in the list. Some students have gotten rather productive on the UMD server. UPDATE THAT DAMN IMP WEBMAIL! It rarely works, it's slow, it erases your emails when you try to send them, and all it would take is the latest version to remedy many of these problems. If you're going to stock the school with Solaris workstations, you'd better make an online tutorial for using UNIX. ? If you change the format of the site, be sure that users wont have to do any MAJOR re-learning of how to go about common tasks. When people become familiar with the way things are arranged, it can be frustrating when they are changed. ? Have a link to UMDstudents.com. Also, upgrade your IMP webmail service to the latest version as the version used because the version now is unreliable and more difficult to use. ? Update webmail IMP and course descriptions as mentioned above ? It is good to me! ? See above comment. ? none ? You should put a link to UMDStudents.com and you need to update IMP Webmail to version 3.1. ? Upgrade the version of PHP so people can take advantage of new features since the version that is currently installed is ancient and has vulnerabilities. Also, upgrade IMP email as the new version is much nicer. ? The site has improved a lot in recent years; pages are more consistent. I would like to see more links to articles or news releases from the front page. ? No comment. ? Get rid of the unnecessary links to get to the student jobs section ? more user friendly ? The search engine needs to be modified to be more specific. Please upgrade. Put the link to the UMdstudents.com on the front page. Upgrade the email IMP. Upgrade PHP to 4.2. ? Updated more and links to groups/organizations web pages. ? I like that the web site offers a lot of usefull services to students, but I have had a lot of problems with certain aspects of the site being out of order. Getting my APAS is often very difficult, and also I have had a lot of problems with the email system not functioning correctly. ? Link to UMDstudents.com ? a better email system ? EAT IT ? As a parent trying to see what my cost would be, for my student, who will be attending there next year, I would like to be able find out the latest information on where the cost are at and where you think they will be going. Right now I stuggle to find that information. This makes it hard for my wife and I do any good budget planning. So I would like to see a link set aside where parents, or sponsors of up coming students can go and find out this information. This would make it a lot easier for them to start setting up a budget and see where they might need help. Right now I and my wife are just guessing. And LIKE you I hate to guess when it comes to budgetting. I really do even care if it is last years amounts, at least we would have some in the ball park idea of where it is going. ? better maps are definitly in order. what do you think about VRML modeling of the campus. that way people can move in 3d around the campus and see exactly where they need to go. ? My only real problem with the UMD web site is that is isn't searcher friendly. ? Ongoing researchs should be made a part of the UMD start page: For instance, ECE Dept alone does lots of research every semster. This year I know they are building a battery driven no-emmision 4 wheeled driven car. They are making Robots and robotic cars. Just to name a few. I know the Chem Engr also does a lot of experiements. It can be changed daily... ? make it easier to search for a person because I think that it was is done the majority of the time ? Make the links bigger and easier to see especially the search and people calander ones. ? Incorporate a contact directory which is not based solely on a people search criteria. In essence, an on-line phone/contact book. Also, bring back the U of M colors. I don't think that we should compramise our colors in order to establish uniqueness in the U of M system. Where's the good old maroon and gold? ? where are the basics UMD for Dummies ? make a different start up page, it takes too long to load with the big graphic of umd during busy times on the network ? Make it like the site of the twincities ? There is way too little information on the UMD Campus Events calendar. It's almost a waste of resources right now because there is so little information of use to students on it. It would serve the UMD community better if more useful information was placed on it. Priority # 1 of the University is, and should be, to serve students, and I don't think that the UMD Campus Events calendar meets that priority. ? It would be a good idea if there was a type of universal calendar that could be used by all the different campus organizations. They could sign things up as things happen. That way if a student or anybody is looking for something to do with an organization, they can look by a certain date to see what is going on with all of them. ? specify were each link leads and what the next page contains, sometimes theres to many links and your not sure where you should be going ? Have an easier link to the Theatre ticket information and information about events on campus. ? Update more information onto the calender of events. Sometimes it's hard to find out when events are going on whether it be for a play or a concert or a comedian. Also, a better e-mail syestem on the web. It never seems to delete my old messages, if I use it to check my mail between classes. ? For events info. Keep it up to date. On snowy days, even if the campus isn't closed, update the snow day page with the current date so we know you just didn't forget. ? I can't seem to find a link to the web app for Corporate Time Calendar. I had the URL once, but have lost it. On occasion I would like to access the calendar from home, so a more "upfront" link would be useful. ? Search capabilities are terrible, but poor organization and lots of information makes them the only choice sometimes. the Google search tool would be a nice thing to see incorporated. It works well. I usually use the google toolbar on my browser to search the UMD site. Departments and UMD main page are ridiculously inconsistent. A similar design would help a lot. Basically, everything on the UMD site is patched together, and that is how it feels when you are going through it. There is something from here and something from there and it is all useful but doesn't work together. A site map that is organized by subject rather than department might help (keep the department one though). more FAQ's, more consistent design, less text ? Make the site so we do not need to scroll up and down. Maybe make the graphic smaller. ? Better email access. Easier 'link' categories on the home page to designate where information is located. ? Looks good! ? The home page should make me want to enroll, no matter whether I'm in undergrad, grad, or lifelong learning situations. Captivate me! (right now the home page makes me snore.) ? I think some of the departmental websites could be improved. ? I don't like the large campus image on the homepage. Frustrating when using a dial-up modem. If we must have a homepage with the large graphic file how about a seperate page that doesn't have the graphics for dialin 'i.e. www.modem.d.umn.edu' only diffence would be it wouldn't have the campus image but an alternate ? The home page is difficult to read: the dark background is overwhelming and is distracting from the text. It's a cluttered, confusing page. The main page graphic is very nice but the area below is too full of text and could use another small graphic. The linked pages have a nice continuous design but to go from the extremely dark home page to the bright white text area in the middle of each linked page is too much contrast. I think that if the home page were redesigned to be less confusing and more aesthetically pleasing it would be a more functional page. ? N / A ? Forms for University should be available and listed by catagories since you you usually don't know the mane of the form you need, but have an idea what it is used for. Also room scheduling on campus is a nightmare! There should be a central scheduling page that would list who to call for scheduling of all types of rooms. We frequently need to schedule meetings of groups from anywhere from 10 people to 150 people and I usually have to call several people to see what is available and what equiptment is available (projectors, web access for 1 or 20? etc.) before I can find a room that is available and will suit our needs. There are so many small rooms that are available but each one is scheduled by someone different. ? I like that the UMD home page pops up when I access Internet Explorer. Sometimes I have trouble finding a policy, but after searching I find it. ? Use other types of evaluations in the future. Along with inquires use Inspection and Testing. A questionnaire like this one is a good way to gather subjective judgements, attitudes, opinions or feelings. But it is only one tool in the usability toolbox. In the future be sure to TEST the current site before redesigning a new one. Use an iterative design process whereby the site is designed, modified, and tested repeatedly. Testing should be a major part of the design process not an after thought. Use comparison testing, exploratory testing, assessment testing, validation testing throughout the redesign process. ? A photo album page would be nice with pictures from different goings on around campus. I could see the students getting a kick out of finding pictures of themselves and friends at games, intermural sporting events, around campus, etc. It would give current students a fun area to check out and prospective students a chance to view student life. Maybe each week have a group of pictures from special events and every day life that occured that week. Give somebody a digital camera and send them out! ? Making the links to Majors easier... instead of having to go through the way it is now. ? get more pictures of duluth ? send free burgers. ? I would expect that the site is designed primarily for those outside the campus, and perhaps students already here, which means that it will naturally be less useful and more difficult to use for faculty and staff. Making it serve me better should not be the top priority. ? have a better way of navagating around this... a search bar or something ? Help create web site for Marshall Performing Arts Center ? list admissions ? See above ? have links to current campus news on a "news" link on the front page... a.k.a. that Currents on the web AND the umd statesman online version people want to know whats..in the news. Newsflash isnt very indepth. ? The mouse-over popups that you can not click on are annyoing. ? Get rid of some of the bells and whistles that take so much time to load. Like the horn thing...what the heck...this is a University not a Chamber of Commerce. ? thorough events calendars should be kept updated; including department seminars, speakers, etc. ? Higher profile for getting to computer corner ? describe the classes and courses better ? pUT MORE PICS OF EVENTS: FOR EXAMPLE COMMENCEMENT ? 1. Annoying to have the rollovers on the homepage pop things up that disappear when you try to move toward them and click on them. Example: If I roll over "research & outreach," a link to "library" pops up--but it disappears when you try to click on it. Instead, you have to first click on R&O, then click on library. If you could go directly from the rollover to the library, it would eliminate an extra step. 2. What is the function of the "one stop" icon in the rightmost box? It doesn't seem to link to anything. 3. What is the function of the yellow arrows around the rightmost box? 4. In the "search for people" function, tell users that they need to type in first name, then last name (e.g., Kathryn Riley). The sequence last name, first name (e.g., Riley, Kathryn) doesn't seem to work. 5. "Campus Life" on homepage is supposed to link to "places around campus," but doesn't. Would be nice to have a pic of the new library, explanation of construction going on around campus, etc. ? see above ? Put a direct link to the Registrar ? Keep improving on providing information ? I do not like to click on the welcome then have to click on the second list. It would be nice to be able to drag over to the second list on the same first home page. ? Would like to see the entire front page fits on regular sise computer screen with a smaller image. ? more news ? Take the stupid parentheses off the UMD title. It's grammatically incorrect and makes the campus look dumb. ? Side panel of common categories ? make it easier to move around on and more reliable! ? Break up the UMD CURRENT STUDENTS PAGE INTO OTHER PAGES WITH HEADINGS. FOR INSTANCE:REGISTERING, FINANCIAL AIDE, CHECK GRADES, and etc. SHould be it's own page of links. ______________________________________________________________________ I am: ______________________________________________________________________ retired prior UMD student self-taught genius dev officer recent adult (night) student mushroom cheese burger with fries I also take classes Administration Soon to be Graduate Student in SW ---------- End Forwarded Message ---------- ____________________________________________ Linda Deneen, Director Information Technology Systems and Services University of Minnesota Duluth ldeneen@d.umn.edu (218) 726-7588 ---------- End Forwarded Message ---------- ____________________________________________ Linda Deneen, Director Information Technology Systems and Services University of Minnesota Duluth ldeneen@d.umn.edu (218) 726-7588